Here's where I put my creations on display

Not Quite Coasters

After my post on the index card paintings, a friend at school came up to me and said, "Keren, I want you to make me something". My mind went multiple places at once. "Make what?" "Using what?" "What should it say?". I asked her what she wanted me to make and she said, "Anything". You'd think that would have made it easier, and it did in some ways. I eventually settled on making something with her name and incorporating a Bible verse because we became friends through our Christian Fellowship. The name for these is still a work in progress but I've settled with "Not Quite Coasters". They're not quite coasters because they really shouldn't get wet.

I don't remember my entire thought process behind the design. I knew I wanted to make something abstract and I wanted to play around with brush strokes and colours. I'm also not sure why I chose the circular shape but I'm glad I did. I'm actually looking at my original sketches to shed some light on why I chose to make circles. Maybe I liked that the verse could wrap around and finish where it started. Wow, this is what happens when you write about something months after you first made it.

Regardless, I sat down one weekend and worked on the first project. This was during school and I told myself that I'd work on it for an hour and then go back to homework. It didn't go exactly like that but I finished the project and I didn't even fail school or anything. I used black cardstock, white paper, watercolours, and a metallic gold pen. I made the circle with my geometry set from second and third form geometry days. =] Here are photos of my first coaster:

I made the second one for another friend who liked the first one. [= She likes blue and she told me that she wanted Proverbs 31:25 because she likes to laugh. (She does.) I wanted to make it for her before the end of the semester but I didn't have or make or find time to do it with finals and packing and general end-of-year things going on. I finished it last week and if I don't see her, I'll send it to her or just wait until school starts back. It's 12 cm across and everything but the names were the same process. Instead of painting Gianna's name, I used puff paint (I'm not sure of the proper name but that's what my sister calls it. I think the bottle says fabric paint but I prefer puff paint.) But I'm straying. Here's how the second one came out:

The song isn't at the top of the post because I'm trying something different. I'll see which one I like better. The song is "To the Ends of the World" by Caleb. Well, they were Caleb when they performed at my school two years ago. They go by Colony House now. They were invited by our Christian Fellowship. This song is a good reminder for me about how much God loves us. Even if I try, I can't escape his love for me.